Previously on
CRISIS
The forces of good have scored their first victory against the legions of evil. On a pair of worlds inhabited by man and monster alike, the invaders have been driven back with heavy casualties on their side, robbed of their prize. Retreating into the vast throng of infinite realities, they plan their next move.
The fruit of victory has a bittersweet taste. Though the invaders have been defeated, the inhabitants of one world have been subsumed by the White Woman, who holds them hostage within her heart. To further muddle the situation, it turns out that she is no other than an alternate version of Taylor Hebert, the same identity as Superwoman.
Now, the heroes prepare for their next step...
A
Aboard the Red Dwarf
"Well, that was fun," Marco said, the last tufts of fur disappearing under his skin as he demorphed. "Let's never do it again."
"Tell me about it," Jake muttered, sitting down on one of the nearby benches. "Why is it we almost always get really hurt? Amputations, getting bitten in half, disembowelment... it never seems to get easier."
(Thankfully, changes in brain chemistry can reduce the amount of mental trauma,) Ax offered. (Otherwise, we would all be gibbering wrecks from the sheer amount of emotional damage that would accompany the pain.)
(Isn't that wonderful?) Tobias remarked wryly.
"I was just glad we were able to get at least a little payback against those bastards," Rachel replied, sitting down beside the nothlit. "It felt good to hit something after everything that happened. Too bad Visser Three wasn't there to get his ass kicked."
"I think you got the order of that wrong," Marco said.
"Especially after what new tricks he showed off last time," Jake added. "He's definitely gotten a power-up or something from those Chaos dudes Bjorn keeps on mentioning."
"DID SOMEBODY MENTION MY NAME?"
Turning at once, they saw the Dreadnaught enter the room through a forcibly widened doorway, followed by Yama and Louis. The latter looked none the worse for wear, though the former sported a small cut on his cheek.
"Seriously, you're like a Mecha-Kool-Aid Man," Marco said.
"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT REFERENCE. IN OTHER NEWS, WE'VE FINALLY GOTTEN SOME MORE HELP AGAINST OUR FOES, WHICH IS WHY WE WEREN'T STOMPED INTO THE GROUND LIKE THE SQUATS."
"The who?" Cassie asked.
"NEVER MIND," replied Bjorn.
Yama brushed by the Dreadnaught, already rolling up another cigarette. "Thankfully, Louis was able to obtain their help during his little sojourn. They should be in this meeting room in short order."
"I'll think you'll have a blast talking with them," Louis said, clearly trying to suppress a grin. "In the meantime, though, I have to go check on my ship with Speaker and Nessus."
"TAKE CARE WITH THOSE XENOS, WU."
"They're some of the only guys on the ship I can get along with," came the dry retort. "I wonder why."
With that, Louis ducked out of the meeting room.
"What did he mean by 'having a blast'?" Cassie asked aloud. "He meant that in a good way, right? Not a sarcastic, mean-spirited way?
(I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this,) Tobias said.
"I don't know why you're so worried," Jake, glancing at the others. "We've witnessed the destruction of our world, only to be flung aboard a virtually abandoned spacecraft with some scary looking aliens and ominous people aboard-"
"HEY!"
"Oh, shut up, Bjorn. You're a giant coffin robot that thinks demon-killing is fun." Jake leaned back in his seat, scratching his face. "Basically, I'm saying that we've been through crazy-town and took a left into nuts-ville. I don't think we're going to-"
He fell silent when two figures stepped into the room, and he found his gaze fixated on the pair. One appeared to be a young woman that wouldn't look out of place in high school. She was tall, definitely over six feet, and the muscles complementing her slim build gave her the physique of a swimmer or gymnast. Her hair was shoulder length and almost impossibly black, brushed so to clearly show her inhumanly blue eyes.
That wasn't what got their attention the most, however. What struck them the most was the blue bodysuit she wore, as well as the red cape draped over her shoulders. A instantly-recognizable symbol graced her chest, one that everyone in their world knew.
The other figure elicited a similar reaction, though he was quite different in appearance. He wore a uniform like hers, but with a dull gray bodysuit and black cape. A horned helmet hid his face from view, and glowing white lenses seemed to bore into their souls as the man scanned the group. His chest had a different symbol, but equally familiar: a stylized bat, with spread wings.
"Hello," Batman and Superwoman said at the same time.
There was a soft thump to Jake's side, and he vaguely realized that Marco had fainted.
==/*\==
"Just how big a spaceship is this thing?" Asuka muttered, watching from a gangplank as a veritable legion of kaiju milled around below her. All of the Monster Island regulars were down there, as well as the one that everyone called Gamera. Godzilla seemed to be growing fond of the terrapin, considering how the two were lazing about near each other, with Junior and Anguirus for company.
Beside her, also leaning against the railing, Shinji shrugged. "I think I heard someone say it was meant to carry around big asteroids and stuff. They have two more bays like this to hold smaller spaceships.
"It's just weird," Asuka muttered.
"Didn't we once team up with Godzilla to fight a bunch of kaiju on Mars?"
"Yeah, yeah. But I thought the crazy stuff would stop after the world was saved. Didn't you?"
"I always hoped that we could just spend the rest of our days having peaceful, boring lives. Kensuke and Toji were planning on making some band called Destroy All Monsters; that would've been fun to do for a bit." Shinji sighed, looking down at the bizarre, yet normal, view below. "Now, we're having to go save the multiverse while everyone we care about has to stay huddled up on this ship for safety."
"It could be worse, baka," Asuka gently retorted. "I can't wait to kick some ass, one way or another. There has to be something I can do to help; you'd get your sorry butt in trouble without me."
"I guess that's true," Shinji said quietly, thinking back to the feeling of the White Woman's hand burning into his chest. He closed his eyes, trying to banish the image from his mind, and stood up straight. "Want to go see the others? I don't want to think too much about what's happening."
"That sounds good."
Together, they made their way to the elevator. As they did, however, Shinji could help but remember the haunting words of the White Woman, just as she was ready to remove his core.
Somewhere, there is a boy with a typewriter.
S
"Well, that was unexpected," Colin muttered.
"Are we really that popular in their world?" I asked.
Bjorn turned slightly to face me. "LET ME PUT IT TO YOU THIS WAY. I WAS BORN IN THE 31ST MILLENNIUM, WHERE HUMANITY WENT THROUGH SEVERAL EPIC FUCK UPS AND LOST A GREAT DEAL OF HISTORY, AND SOME OF US STILL KNOW ABOUT SUPERMAN, THOUGH THE FUCKERS IN THE INQUISITION STILL GRUMBLE ABOUT YOU BEING AN XENO. INDEED, I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF THE EMPEROR HIMSELF USED TO READ COMIC BOOKS BACK IN THE EARLY STAGES OF HISTORY."
"So, like how your fanbase on Bet sees you," Colin interpreted. "Or how we used to view Scion."
A small sound drew my attention back to the teenagers in the room with us. One of them had gathered up his wits enough to cautiously step forward, along with the blue centaur alien.
"H-holy sh... cow," the boy said, quickly correcting himself. "Am I dreaming? Did I actually die and go to heaven where I could hang out with superheroes?"
"You're very much alive," I replied, extending my hand. "Pleased to meet you. I have a feeling you know our names, but what's yours?"
The boy stared at my hand like it was the Holy Grail, then shook it firmly. Faintly, I could hear him mutter "shaking hands with Superwoman", before saying "Jake."
"Nice name," I said. I turned to the blue alien. "How about you?"
(Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil,) he replied, forgoing a handshake to bow slightly. (Are you the figure I keep on seeing in the visually-represented novels?)
"Comic books," Jake mouthed.
"Yes," I replied. "Though I'm a bit different in more than a few ways, I'd imagine."
Behind them, the one who had fainted suddenly got to his feet, eyes still wide. I could literally smell the excitement coming off of him, and his heart hammered against his ribs as he sidled over to his friend.
"Batman and Supergirl-"
"Superwoman."
"Batman and Superwoman," the boy corrected nervously. "It's hard to keep my head straight; I mean, holy shit -er, cow, would't want to swear in front of you, but you two made my childhood." He turned to Colin, a look of reverence on his face. "You are, like, the coolest dude ever; I even still have Batman bedsheets and stuff, and-"
"You can calm down," Colin interrupted briskly, his brow furrowed at the surreal sight before him. Most of the time, he expected people to scream and run away when they saw him, not scream and run at him. "What is your name?"
"Marco," came the swift reply. "How much like in the comics are you guys? I mean, she's probably Clara Kent or somethi-"
"Who?" I asked.
"Ya know, like in the comics? Superman's secretly Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet, and Batman's secretly playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne. Do you guys fight the Joker and stuff?"
"Never heard of the Joker," I replied. "And I think there's a lot of differences from those comics you read. I'm not going to reveal identities just yet, but I'm definitely not a reporter; I'm a student teacher who works with kids in elementary schools. Batman gets to use the lab to make gadgets, but he's definitely not a billionaire."
Marco shrugged. "Doesn't make it any less awesome. Do you have laser eyes? Does the Justice League exist? And does Batman have a Batmobile?"
"What?" Colin asked, confused. "Why the fuck would I call something a Batmobile?"
"You swear? Sweet!"
I chuckled at the look on Colin's face, then turned to face Marco. "Yes, we do have a Justice League. Yes, I have laser eyes. No, Batman doesn't name his gadgets like that, but I'm definitely going to bring that up with Dragon later." I cleared my throat, my face becoming more serious. "We do have some important matters to attend to, though. We're calling in everyone else for a meeting about what to do."
"WHO THE FUCK MADE YOU IN CHARGE?"
"No one. I'm just making sure we're all on the same foot. If you want, we can try to elect a leader or a command group when we're all here."
"WORKS FOR ME. I VOTE FOR GODZILLA, IF ONLY BECAUSE I WANT TO SEE THE LOOK ON EVERYBODY'S FACES."
"Godzilla's here, too?!" Marco held up a finger, as if to declare something, then opted to walk out of the room. "I have to see this."
(Me too!) the hawk suddenly declared, swooping past me.
I watched them go, then decided to follow after them, if only for a brief moment.
It wasn't every day you got to see Godzilla.
Ω
Aboard the World Maelstrom
(This invasion was a total failure,) the Yeerk Emperor declared, trotting into the throne room. More Chaos runes marked his body, seemingly burned into his light blue fur, and he wore a spiked breastplate with the Yeerk insignia painted on in blood.
Barachiel snorted at the sight; like the Ruinous Powers would wholeheartedly bless something as pathetic as him. When the fighting was all over, when that damned lizard's skull rested in his throne room, he would show the arrogant xeno real power. Nevertheless, he remained quiet as he watched the others begin the debate; fighting would be self-defeating at the moment.
"It was a complete loss," the White Woman replied, a faint smile on her face. "I have consumed another world. My power has grown; I can feel the light of their souls strengthening my own. The boy escaped me, but only with the interference of the pretender."
(What pretender? Is this what everyone was all concerned about?)
"She speaks of the Kryptonian that calls herself 'Superwoman'," Darkseid said, displeasure clear in his voice as he leaned forward, palms flat on the gathering table. "We now face a dire obstacle, now; she is amongst their ranks."
"A woman in a funny suit frightens you, o mighty Lord of Apokolips?" Barachiel inquired, incredulous. "I thought it would take something far more fearsome to make you turn tail and run."
The Primarch realized he had made a terrible mistake when he saw Darkseid turn to him, eyes ablaze. Barachiel instinctively reached for his reforged sword, hoping that the blessings the Lords of Chaos had given him would be enough to survive.
It happened so fast as to scarcely happened at all; only the Primarch's superhuman reflexes allowed him to pay witness to the horrific action. Light flared from Darkseid's eyes, but there was something fundamentally wrong about them, something that wracked Barachiel's mind with pain as he tried to make sense of the sight. They twisted sharply at right angles, crackling with unnatural energy, and struck the Primarch in the shoulder.
There was no deafening explosion, no massive fireball to herald the damage done. In the span of a heartbeat, flames scoured away his armor and the flesh underneath, reducing his entire shoulder to a snow-white ash that blew away in the baking-hot air.
The screaming came quickly after that.
Barachiel fell to his knees, hand clamped over the ashen stump that was his arm. Already, he could feel power flow through him, fueled by his pain and fury. The gods answered his bellows of agony with flesh forged from the maddening Immaterium itself. A new limb began to form, muscles and tendons and bones bubbling into life as they unevenly joined together into a mockery of a human arm. Armor, still red-hot from the forges of Khorne, flared over the freshly-created limb, searing into the Warp-flesh and serving as skin.
Barachiel rose to his feet, breathing deeply through gritted teeth as he flexed his gift from the Ruinous Powers, and glared at the statuesque figure before him.
"That," he snarled, "hurt."
"As it should have, Primarch," came the low reply. "That was a warning; even your new allies won't save you from me if I so desire it. Consider yourself blessed that I didn't vaporize you outright."
Barachiel seethed, bloody mucus trickling down the corner of his mouth, but said nothing. Already the signs of Chaotic influence were showing; his face was even paler than before, like a waterlogged corpse that had been left to rot for days, and his eyes had an almost jaundiced look to them.
The only thought he had about it, however, was more.
"I believe we should focus on our actual enemies," the White Woman interjected. "We can start killing each other later."
"Naturally," Darkseid rumbled, finally turning away from the Traitor Primarch. "The Kryptonian is whom we have to worry about most. Even now, I lack the power to confidently defeat her, but that is only a matter of time."
"I suggest we should find their ship and blast it to slag," the Yeerk Emperor offered.
"Do you really think your stolen trinkets can kill the Pretender?" the White Woman asked incredulously. "She could wipe out your fleet in a moment, and there are others fighting alongside her. We need to gather our strength if we wish to kill her."
"Indeed," Darkseid said. "Fortunately, I have a target in mind, one that should be harder for them to find. I initially skipped it over to avoid detection by local powers, but now I feel the time is right."
(Another defenseless Earth?) the Yeerk Emperor asked. (Or have you decided to take to the stars?)
"It is defenseless, relatively speaking, and it is among the stars," came the hard reply. "And I believe it may be the crux to defeating our foes once and for all."
S
Aboard the Red Dwarf
"Who's a good giant monster?" I asked playfully, rapidly scratching along Godzilla's gills. "Yes you are, yes you are!"
The greatest monster to have ever lived began to purr like a kitten, thumping his tail agains the deck of the asteroid storage bay. I switched to the gills on the other side of his neck, and the purring intensified.
Of all the strange things to ever happen to me, I never thought I would scratch Godzilla like a pet. It was pretty surreal, like I was in some light-hearted dream, but there was no denying that the warm scales under my hands were real as I raked my nails over them. It was definitely something I would remember for as long as I lived.
"Ahem," Amy muttered.
I paused, craning my neck to the ragtag crowd on the nearby gangplank, and reluctantly drifted over. Godzilla opened his eyes, a disappointed chuff escaping him, and focused on the new turn of events.
"Everyone's gathered up," Colin said, pointedly trying to ignore the awed stares coming from the Animorphs. "We need to discuss a course of action."
"That's good to hear," I said, gently landing on the gangplank. "First off, I think everyone needs to come up to speed on just who and what we're up against."
"YOU JUST MEAN YOU, YOUR FRIENDS, AND THOSE NEW GUYS," Bjorn retorted. "EVERYONE ELSE HAS A PRETTY GOOD IDEA, I THINK. THE RUINOUS POWERS ARE AMASSING TO BRING THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE, OR WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU CALL IT, INTO THEIR EVIL HOLD."
"It's not just that," I heard Shinji say softly.
"What do you mean?" I asked, mainly to get everyone's attention on him.
The boy - it made me feel old to think that; I was younger than him when I started out - shifted nervously under the crowd's gaze, then raised his chin. "When the island got attacked, somebody personally came after me, someone like Lilith back during the whole thing with Instrumentality. She had an S2 organ, and said something about going around and eating everybody who came from the Seeds and stuff."
"LIKE A CANNIBAL? THAT WOULD TAKE FOREVER."
"I know what he means," I retorted, glaring at the coffin-like cyborg. "She took their souls."
"AH, THAT MAKES MORE SENSE. CARRY ON."
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Jake said, gesturing wildly. "Souls? Like, as in actual souls, the kind of stuff you read about in Sunday school?"
"In a word? Yes," Colin replied.
(How can primitive humans prove that?) Ax inquired incredulously. (Even Andalite scientists haven't confirmed the existence of a soul.)
"We have," the redhead next to Shinji replied, putting her hands on her hips. "Maybe you weren't looking right, four-eyes."
"WE HAVE PROVEN THAT SOULS EXIST IN MY WORLD AS WELL," Bjorn added. "IT ENDED UP BEING A PRETTY BAD THING."
"The atman is a concept found to be universal and beyond," Yama said, lighting a cigarette. "But now is not the time for a discussion of such things."
"I'm glad I have no need to take part in it," Nessus said. "My people found no such undying part."
I frowned, turning to look his way. "What are you talking about?"
"Excuse me?"
"Your scientists must have guessed wrong," I said. "I'm seeing yours right now."
That had an immediate effect on the Pierson's Puppeteer. He opened both mouths, as if to say something, then snapped them shut. Trembling, as though he would collapse at any moment, he slowly knelt down and tucked his heads under his stomach, forming a tight ball.
"Well, I'll be tanjed," Louis murmured, glancing at Nessus's form before turning back to me. "I think we should stop talking about this stuff, unless we want to get all wrapped up in existential navel-gazing."
"That is agreeable," Speaker said. "Here is another topic: I believe we should elect a leader to better handle this threat, instead of chaotically attempting to formulate plans."
"And you're nominating yourself, aren't you?" I asked dryly.
"Naturally," came the rumbling reply. "This is a situation of a military nature. Your abilities as scientists or explorers are unimportant; we need someone with combat experience and a tactical mind."
(I nominate Prince Jake, then,) Ax declared. (We have fought against the Yeerks for years, and it was only under his leadership that we lasted for so long.)
"I'm not sure if I'm cut for that," Jake admitted, rubbing his arm absentmindedly. "I mean, that was different. We had to fight under the radar, play the long game, that kind of stuff. If the guys we're up against are as nasty as everyone says, then it's going to be a different fight."
"I STILL WANT GODZILLA IN CHARGE."
"Seriously?" I heard Rimmer say in the distance. "The smeghead can't even speak!"
"STILL MORE INTELLIGIBLE THAN YOU!"
An argument began to break out between the Dreadnaught and Rimmer, threatening to devolve into a shouting match that would eventually bring everyone in. Yama and Louis stayed silent, eyes fixed on me, as if they were waiting for my cue.
Then, behind me, Godzilla roared, the gangplank actually rattling with the sheer force behind it. Now that he was actually there, in the flesh, I could appreciate just how fearsome of a sound his roar was; the countless movies my world's Japan made before Leviathan sank Kyushu couldn't do it justice. Even I couldn't help but feel a tingle run up my spine as I heard it, and I found myself wondering how the others must have felt.
At once, everyone fell silent, a sort of terrified awe on their faces. Nessus had formed an even tighter ball, and Speaker looked almost liked a spooked kitten as he stared up at the mountain of monster glaring down at the gangplank.
Seeing that everyone was now quiet, I gently cleared my throat.
"Can we please calmly decide on who's in charge? It's not like they'll have full power, anyway; we'll all be able to chime in, right?"
"THAT SOUNDS GOOD," Bjorn boomed in agreement. "ALL JOKING ASIDE, I THINK WE SHOULD HAVE A 'REPRESENTATIVE' FROM EACH UNIVERSE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT."
"Like a republican democracy?" Louis asked.
"WHAT'S A DEMOCRACY?"
"Christ," Colin muttered to my side. I couldn't help but agree with that sentiment; just what kind of universe was Bjorn from?
"I think that could work," Dragon said aloud, taking a small step forward. "Does anyone else agree?"
Nodding all around.
"Good. Something tells me we already have leaders for our little subgroups; I know we have ours. Now that we have a rough idea of who's in charge, we should focus on what we need to do."
"That should be obvious enough," Yama said, lighting another cigarette. "The enemy is licking its wounds right now, but that won't last for long. Their leader, this... man with red eyes, as all witnesses can agree on, is growing in strength. The same goes for that mysterious woman who seems to serve as his attack dog."
"Do we know who he is?" Louis asked.
I saw Marco and the other Animorphs shuffle slightly at the comment, subtly enough that most people would've missed it. I raised an eyebrow at that, but stayed silent; if needed, I could just ask them about it in private, when they were more comfortable.
"That appears to be the great mystery of this struggle," Yama replied. "Whomever he is, he is not a man; that much I can tell. In fact, I wouldn't even say that he's alive in the sense that we know it."
"Just what the hell does that mean?" Asuka demanded.
Yama took another puff of his cigarette. "Hell if I know; I only know what he isn't, and that is a terrifying prospect."
"WELL, I GUESS WE WILL JUST HAVE TO SHOOT HIM A BIT MORE," Bjorn offered. "I HAVE SEEN CREATURES NEITHER LIVING NOR DEAD, BEASTS BORN OUT OF THE BASEST AND MOST PRIMAL URGES AND VICES OF LIFE IN THE GALAXY. AND I HAVE SEEN THEM DIE."
"That's pretty metal," Marco muttered to the other Animorphs.
"Something tells me we're going to find out what he is soon enough," I said. "Whatever he is, we need to prepare for a fight."
"I can help upgrade the ship, make it more prepared for combat," Dragon offered. "Add in turrets, missile launchers, maybe also attach more armor plates. This ship was designed for mining; we could use asteroids as raw material to make even more weapons."
"Pardon me, Miss, er, Dragon," Kryten interrupted, taking a few awkward steps forward, "there are two major issues with that. One, the Dwarf is horribly designed for combat. Two, the Dwarf is horribly designed for combat."
"That's just one."
"Yes, but I felt that it was big enough of a problem to warrant two mentions," the android replied. "You need something actually designed for space combat."
"Unfortunately, that is a good point," Yama said. "Fortunately, I have already been searching through the Brahman for more universes who could help us, and I believe I may have come across a solution to that issue."
"WHAT UNLUCKY BASTARD HAVE YOU IN MIND?"
-/-\-
Race Free Zone, Utah, (W)Earth
"Exalted Fleetlord?"
Atvar looked up from another stack of reports warranted by the Colonization Fleet's arrival. Kirel had paused in the middle of his own reports, and appeared to be shaken by something.
"?" he coughed.
"It was nothing, Exalted Fleetlord," Kirel replied hurriedly. "Just had a sudden bad feeling, probably related to all the stress of the past week."
"Truth," Atvar said. "Thankfully, it appears that the Americans are managing to keep the other nations at bay, at least for now. Soon, we will be off this Emperor-forsaken mudball."
"It will not be soon enough, Exalted Fleetlord," Kirel said.
The two went back to their work. As they did, however, Atvar couldn't help but wonder if Kirel's 'bad feeling' was just that.